Increase in Suicide Mortality in the United States, 1999-2018

Abstract

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death for all ages in the United States (1). Suicide is a major contributor to premature mortality as it ranks as the second leading cause of death for ages 10-34 and the fourth leading cause for ages 35-54 (1). Despite national goals to lower the suicide rate (2), several recent reports have documented a steady increase in suicide rates in recent years (3-6). This data brief uses final mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) to update trends in suicide rates from 1999 through 2018 and to describe differences by sex, age group, and urbanicity of county of residence.